OPENING RECEPTION:
February 17, 2015
from 5:30-7:30pm
at the Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery, New Building

ON DISPLAY:
February 16th, 2015 through April 3rd, 2015

The title of this show is inspired by W. Somerset Maugham’s 1915 novel much of which is autobiographical and in turn, was based on Part IV of Spinoza’s Ethics. Also subtitled Strength of Emotions it is about the human inability to control its emotions that results in a sort of slavery or bondage. Perhaps the most destructive of these is greed which is largely responsible for man’s inhumanity to man and many wars.

Human trafficking is slavery and as such, a horrific breach of the basic human inalienable right. In the exhibition’s context, it is the act of owning another person’s body for the purpose of sexually exploiting them for financial gain. It is a basic human rights violation caused by greed for profit that results in the commodification of humans. The victims are usually children, young men and women who have been orphaned, runaways, minority children or the underprivileged taken into bondage by the sex industry.